Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 07/98) - Inuvik has won its bid to host the 13th annual Community Futures Conference.

With the win, the town can expect more than 250 visitors specifically for the conference April 2 through 5 in the year 2000. The dates coincide with the Muskrat Jamboree.

"This is a great opportunity to showcase Inuvik and our region to some pretty influential people down south," said Patricia Black, general manager of Western Arctic Business Development Services.

"Not only will it bring in over $300,000 in tourism spending to Inuvik, but the conference can be used to promote our town as a full-service conference destination.

The annual conference is a four-day event that includes workshops and training sessions on a variety of community economic development topics.

In addition, the agenda is packed with cultural events, tours and a large banquet and dance.

WABDS faced stiff competition from Beaverlodge, Alberta according to Black.

"The Smeda group (representing Beaverlodge) sponsored a champagne reception before the vote and used a dry-ice machine during their presentation," she said.

"It was pretty intimidating, but in the end Inuvik sold itself on the basis of our beautiful natural features and northern culture."

Community Futures is a funding program set up in communities with economic problems.

"Here in Inuvik, we had the base pull out and the oil pull out, so Inuvik really experienced a pretty severe economic downturn because of that," Black said.

"Then the feds decided there is a good site for a Community Futures organization, which is what WABDS is."

Black said until recently all the western provinces operated very independently but have recently formed a pan-western group.

All the visitors to the Inuvik conference will be from western Canada.